Six Welsh communities to benefit from a Postcode Gardener

What is a Postcode Gardener?

On Friday 31 January 2025, Pentrel Tyleri, a social enterprise in Cwmtillery in Blaenau Gwent, launched a new community gardening project. At the event, local people were introduced to their new ‘Postcode Gardener’, Jamie Thomas.

A Postcode Gardener is the cornerstone of a gardening programme being rolled out in Cwmtillery and five other nature-deprived communities in Wales by Friends of the Earth and The Co-operative Bank.

The role of this professional, paid gardener is to inspire people to get together, get planting and keep growing. They get people outdoors, socialising and working together. They help grow plants for flowers, food and wildlife along streets, in front gardens and public spaces where people can enjoy them.

Jamie Thomas is the second Postcode Gardener in Wales. The first is Ollie Lister who has been working with the community in St Thomas, in conjunction with the Environment Centre in Swansea since last December. In the coming months, the Postcode Gardener programme will be rolled out to communities in Ravenhill in Swansea, Ely and Caerau in Cardiff, Rhyl in Denbighshire and Ferndale in the Rhondda Valley - watch this space!

Cwmtillery

In Cwmtillery Jamie will work with the community to encourage nature back into the area, and support people and wildlife to thrive. Like many towns in the south Wales valleys, Cwmtillery is densely inhabited, with lines of terraced houses snaking along the valley floor and sides. Although the whole area is flanked by steep mountains, as Ralph, a local resident commented, greenery is sparse and there is very little green space.

A few months ago, Cwmtillery was badly impacted by Storm Bert, after torrential rain caused a landslide from a nearby coal tip, damaging properties and gardens. During the storm, several people in the town noticed how a recently created community wetland in Cwmtillery was resilient in the face of flooding.

This sparked lots of conversations in the town about climate change, and how harnessing nature can offer solutions to help protect against the impacts of extreme weather events.

Jamie’s plan is to ‘green up’ three locations and he is now consulting with the community on exactly where these will be and what they will look like:

“I can’t wait for these forgotten green spaces to be given a new lease of life. It’ll be amazing to see them brimming with wildlife and becoming havens the whole community can enjoy.

“It’s not just about making the spaces look nicer, it’s also about creating places that bring people together and serve the needs of the community.”

He hopes this project will encourage the greening up of other areas, with the help of the community, such as raised beds, planters, vegetable patches, wildflowers and tree-planting.

What are the benefits?

The Postcode Gardener programme is a tried and tested way to help restore nature and biodiversity to the community in Cwmtillery, ensuring local people can enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits nature can provide.

Over the past 30 years, wildlife in Wales has decreased by a fifth and 1 in 6 species are at risk of extinction. Wales is now one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world. This decline in nature is not only devastating for ecosystems, but it also has a very real impact on people’s mental and physical health.

That is why the Postcode Gardener programme is so important. We need to act now and work together to create more resilient, thriving and healthy streets in the areas most threatened by climate change.

 See here for a full list of projects and how to get involved.